Chapter 90

Fang Yi crept along the side of the winding road, trying to stay in the shadows as much as possible. As the saying goes, knowledge changes fate. After months of sorting through tedious data and facing a sea of mechanical and tasteless information, he had gained a thorough understanding of the game's content. There were certainly experts like him in the game, but most players didn't recognize the powerful monsters they faced, let alone their habits, and could only learn through practical experience.

The tree canopy in the forest blocked out the sky, keeping the woods in perpetual darkness. Fortunately, the limited field of vision provided by the brooch improved his travel speed to some extent. Fang Yi munched on his second giant fruit and followed the trail, reaching the banks of the Long Arm River in less than ten minutes. It turned out that the cave where the boss was located wasn't far from the Long Arm River, and the river's flow was relatively gentle, so it couldn't be heard from a distance.

After level 3, the rate of skill proficiency growth slowed down significantly. Fang Yi's Listening and Reconnaissance skills were still at 3/42%, but this was the result of him almost always using these skills, which put him far ahead of players of the same level.

He searched the riverbank carefully for a long time. Just as Fang Yi was becoming restless and almost giving up, he finally found traces of the crocodile lizard near the riverbank.

The mud was covered with the large footprints of the crocodile lizard, and a faint odor wafted from the grass. Fang Yi stepped on the footprints and cautiously entered the grass. This place was a natural ravine, with a dense canopy overhead that blocked out almost all sunlight, creating a stifling and humid atmosphere.

Finally, he left the mud and stepped onto the damp ground. Habitually, he looked around and was startled: there was a series of footprints in the mud on the right side!

Someone! Fang Yi carefully approached, and although the person had deliberately stayed along the edge, he could still make out a few indistinct traces. He drew his dual blades, feeling a bit depressed.

After playing online games for so many years, Fang Yi had long lost interest in the tactics of ambush and theft. Even if the other party held valuable items, as long as they weren't enemies or had attacked first, he would rationally choose to ignore them. After all, professional players make a living from the game, and if the game were filled with malicious PKs and loot theft, it wouldn't be far from collapse. Although there were a few people with poor character, most professional players would consciously resist such self-destructive behavior.

In this regard, "Miracle" did a great job. Malicious PK players were essentially free ATMs, and all players could attack them in anger. After all, if you wanted to play the evil faction, there were a thousand ways to do so, and malicious PK was undoubtedly the most dangerous.

If the other party had obtained the treasure, Fang Yi would naturally leave quietly. But since he had come this far, there was no reason not to take a look.

Fang Yi tiptoed forward in the ravine and soon found a fork. This was clearly the work of the crocodile lizard boss, with chaotic footprints clearly visible. The structure of the passage also matched the crocodile lizard's living habits—the dense branches above ensured the nest's concealment, and the gradually rising terrain prevented the formation of puddles. Although the crocodile lizard liked water, its nest rarely had standing water. Fang Yi was fully on guard as he slowly moved forward.

The midday sun did not reach the ground, and the spacious nest seemed to be in the twilight. Fang Yi held his breath and followed the footprints silently. The clues left by players in the game world lasted at most two minutes (footprints in heavy rain would quickly disappear), and unless the search skill level was high, there would be no traces left afterward.

The footprints in front of him were clearly visible, obviously just left. Fang Yi compared them with his own and found that the person in front was quite skilled. They either had the Druid's Stealth Step or had very high Silent Movement and Stealth skills, as the footprints were even shallower than his own.

Finally, he reached the end of the nest, where the ground became relatively dry, and the footprints disappeared before entering the open area. Fang Yi peeked around but found no players as expected, only a pile of white bones, the leftovers of the crocodile lizard boss. The stench made his head spin, and he regretted his high perception.

Would the person be in stealth? Although Fang Yi hoped the other party had experienced a power outage or disconnection, he still refreshed his Reconnaissance and Listening skills rationally.

Fang Yi crouched and zigzagged through the ground covered with rotten meat, playing hide and seek with the other player. In a confrontation between two players with stealth skills, it all came down to their hiding abilities and the levels of related counter-skills. Fang Yi was very confident in this area, as he had been using Listening and Reconnaissance skills continuously since the start of the game, and Stealth was always in use. He was now waiting for the other party to make a mistake. However, he couldn't figure out how the other party had discovered him.

The dark nest was empty, with only the buzzing of flies on the animal bones. Fang Yi circled around to one side of the nest, maximizing his hearing to guard against any enemies that might appear.

Unconsciously, he came to the largest pile of bones and suddenly stopped. Among the large animal bones was a partially decomposed human corpse. The lower half of the body was missing, and the upper torso was severely damaged, with only the head and arms relatively intact.

Due to the tearing by wild animals and the covering of mud, the corpse's clothes were in tatters, but Fang Yi could still discern the original bright red color of the robe. More importantly, the bald head of the corpse had several strange tattoos that extended to the remaining left shoulder.

Although Fang Yi was curious about the corpse, he wisely did not stay in one place for too long and continued to move around. This time, he began to pay attention to his feet, afraid of missing anything.

After another minute, when Fang Yi returned to the corpse, he finally found another clue. This time, he pressed his body low to the ground, intending to look for any missed clues in the mud, but unexpectedly found a faint red glow under the corpse!

Fang Yi narrowed his eyes, stopped, and slowly backed up until his back was against the damp wall. He then squatted down and stared motionlessly at the faint red glow under the corpse.

Time passed, and Fang Yi remained still. If he was still discovered after using Stealth and Hide skills, he would have to accept his fate.

Suddenly, a faint vibration came from the cave entrance. Fang Yi tilted his ear toward the entrance and closed his eyes to listen. Indeed, the vibration became more noticeable, and the roars of monsters could be heard, indicating that they had entered the ravine.